Episode 8: Presentation –– To Hell & Back with Jordan Ray Claytor

Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast

What do you do with a kid who tries to capture every tiny animal that crosses his path? You take him to the Natural History Museum. A LOT.

Fortunately for the critters, graduate student and OLLI instructor Jordan Ray Claytor quickly discovered that paleontology was more his passion, so he switched to fossils.

As a paleontologist, Jordan studies at the intersection of a bunch of different sciences, he says, including biology, geology, and ecology. They’re trying to answer questions about life in “deep time.” What can fossils tell us about Earth’s organic past, and how can we apply those learnings to modern-day life?

So, what CAN the fossil record tell us? Jordan’s fossils were living in Hell Creek in the Badlands of Montana, 66 million years ago. The planet was warmer then, and land masses were differently shaped than they are now. And this area hosted a whole lot of dinosaurs, including the T-Rex and triceratops. There were small mammals in the area as well, making the Hell Creek region one of the richest for study.

Hell Creek isn’t famous just for its fossils. In fact, a rock layer discovered by a father and son in the 1980s indicated that the existing theory that dinosaurs had simply slowly gone extinct was probably wrong. Really wrong.

Hear Jordan’s fascinating presentation about the discoveries of paleontology and how the study of the past can have genuine impacts (pun intended) on life today.

Learn more about Jordan Ray Claytor here: https://www.biology.washington.edu/people/profile/jordan-claytor

If you love hearing about dinosaurs, digs, and DAWGS, be sure to listen to the amazing story of how UW professor Greg Wilson and his DIG team discovered a T Rex in Hell Creek, Montana, and how that T Rex currently resides at the Burke Museum on the Seattle campus of UW: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1y08ZmXw3dqqEhB6HZtpH7.

Learn more about OLLI/Osher at the University of Washington here: https://www.osher.uw.edu/